DOJ IN 2009, an estimated 4,300,000 violent crimes occured nationwideOnly 49% of violent crimes reported to police, so there are nearly a million reported violent crimes that do not reflect in the FBI UCR, as not all Police depts. send reports to the FBI

Really the best way to stop bullying is well placed set of knuckles to the adams apple, or a quick knee strike to the groin. If you are the target of a bully grow a pair and yes hit back, at that age they understand force do not be a sniveling little whiner that wants someone else to fix it for them, unless you want to be a sniveling little whiner all of your life.

Mike Blooming idiot says felons will be able to get CCW licenses, they must have a really poor system in NY for conducting background checks, in Ohio we are seeing applications revoked for 20 to 30 year old misdemeanors, and NY won't be able to stop felons?

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Have a PC issue
I had an audio CD grenade itself inside the drive, and while it appears most but not all the shrapnel, is out the drive, the drive does not seem to work.

Removed the power supply, and attempted to slide drive out, but after a couple of inches, it won't budge, although rapping it a couple of times with the butt of the screw driver did move it another 3/4's of an inch it was tighter than a beagle in a rabbit hole.

Couldn't see any clips screws or anything impeding removal, but didn't want to go Banzai on it

Also tried pushing out the front, and won't go that way ether, and yes the spring loaded clip that holds it in place, I did release it.

One of the students picked up a Gen 4 Glock Thursday, and brought it to class.

I usually do not recommend bringing a new gun to class, but anyway, it was the only one he brought, and it was having problems from the get go, early in the day he( the student) being a Glock Armorer decided to diassemble the pistol, and a few smaller parts lauched themselves into the unknown, the extractor had to be forced out of the slide, and the Glock went home in a bag.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

There is no shortage of techniques for clearing a stoppage or malfunction; just trying to explain the difference between the two sets off a never ending debate. Unfortunately, those who have time to engage in never ending debates lose track of what is important. You’re fighting for your life. Whatever works is what is important.

Stoppages usually occur in the cycle of operation of the semiautomatic pistol or rifle, usually caused by a dirty, un-lubricated weapon, bad magazines (covered in a previous article) under powered ammunition, poor grip (including unlocking the wrist while shooting). There are other contributing factors, but these are the primary ones.

A malfunction relates to a mechanically broken weapon that usually cannot be fixed on short notice. I would like to deal with the stoppage techniques in this article.

First, prevention or at least steps we can take to prevent this from happening are important, but please keep in mind there are no guarantees. It is hard to believe that in 2010 the primary cause of stoppages is still dirty, un-lubricated firearms. With all the training and preaching about the importance of cleaning and maintaining our weapons systems many of our fellow officers continue to not take this seriously. A properly maintained and lubricated firearm following the manufacturer’s guidelines is as important to you and those that rely on you as understanding sound tactics and techniques to survive a firefight on the street.

Every time a firearm is taken apart, cleaned, lubricated, and put back together, you should perform a function check. Often at the beginning of a training class I will have the students unload, make the weapon safe and perform a function check. I am often surprised by the number of officers that have been “trained” and carrying the firearm for some time that still do not know how to properly perform a function check on their side arm or a shoulder mounted weapon they may be using. While specific firearms require specific manipulation for a weapon-specific function check, general guidelines for a function check will be covered in a later article.

Inspection of duty ammo as we load our magazines is as equally important. The primary objective is to keep our weapons at peak operational readiness so when we draw the firearm we are confident it will go BANG! (Preventative maintenance guide coming soon.)

So, let’s move on to some more terms such as slide forward, slide to the rear, primary stoppage, secondary stoppage, etc. Slide (or bolt on a semi-automatic rifle or shotgun) forward means that the slide or bolt is all the way forward in the normal locked (firing) position but the weapon did not go BANG! Slide (or bolt) to the rear means that the slide is locked to the rearward position. Primary stoppage means that when you pressed the trigger you heard or felt a hammer / striker fall. Secondary stoppage means that when you pressed he trigger you did not hear or feel a hammer / striker fall.

First, if you have to press the trigger and the weapon doesn’t go “BANG!”, your first immediate action is to MOVE!, preferably toward cover, but if none is available, remember that a moving target is harder to hit than a stationary one.

Reload:

If the indicators are:

(1) Slide or bolt locked to the rear, AND

(2) no hammer or striker fall, chances are that the weapon is empty and needs to be reloaded.

The fix is to reload the weapon and get back into the fight! Sounds simple enough, but how many times have you seen in training shooters; (a) catch an empty magazine, (b) place an empty magazine in a pocket, etc.? If you need to continue shooting, the most important thing is to get the fresh magazine into the weapon and chamber a round. The empty magazine is worthless!

Also, some shooters practice the method of pointing the muzzle of the semiautomatic pistol straight up and flipping it in their hand so the magazine well points out at a ninety degree angle. The theory is that you can see the opening of the magazine well out of your peripheral vision or “combat window” and are less likely to fumble a reload. I can’t say that I’m a big fan of this technique, as pointing the muzzle straight up on a semiautomatic pistol with the slide locked to the rear tells the whole world (including, possibly, your assailant(s)) that YOU’RE EMPTY. I’ve also seen shooters that get the steps wrong and flip the pistol to the ninety degree angle before pressing the magazine release, and then wonder why the magazine doesn’t fall out. (Sir Isaac Newton figured this out a few centuries ago.) I prefer to keep the muzzle pointed at the threat / threat area with the magazine well pointed down while executing the reload.

All of this should happen as you are moving and the weapon is still up, pointed toward to threat or threat area. With a semi-automatic pistol, a good “par time” for a tap, rack, ready is about 1.0 – 1.5 seconds. With a semiautomatic rifle, about 1.5 seconds. Dipping the muzzle toward the ground and staring at the weapon does nothing except alert your assailant(s) that you are out of the fight.

Secondary Method of Stoppage Clearing:

If the indicators are:

(1) Slide or bolt locked to the rear, AND

(2) no hammer or striker fall, AND

(3) When you press the magazine release, the magazine does not fall out of the weapon, you may have a failure to extract combined with a failure to feed, also known as a “double feed”. We refer to it as a “secondary stoppage”.

The traditional steps to correct this have been:

(a) LOCK the slide / bolt to the rear,

(b) RIP the magazine out,

(c) RACK the slide / bolt to clear the chamber, then

(d) TAP a new magazine into place,

(e) RACK the slide / bolt and

(f) READY.

That’s a lot of moving parts to memorize, and under low stress on the range we’ve seen a lot of shooters get the steps out of order, making the stoppage even worse.

We’ve simplified this “secondary method” into three steps that are more easily remembered under stress:

(a) UNLOAD the weapon, which usually means removing the

magazine, sometimes forcefully;

(b) CLEAR THE CHAMBER (I prefer a physical check with a fingertip

as opposed to a visual check, which assumes that you will have

sufficient light to see the chamber);

(c) RELOAD the weapon, preferably with a fresh magazine, as a faulty

magazine may have caused the stoppage in the first place.

To recap, the best way to minimize the need for stoppage clearing is to:

(a) Have your weapons clean and properly lubricated;

(b) Function test all of your magazines;

(c) Make certain that all of the cartridges in the magazines are

defect-free.

That being said, practice your stoppage drills. You can do them in any safe area that allows movement and has simulated cover. Make certain to remove all live rounds from the area and use only inert training cartridges.

To note, I wear em all the time, the main reason being they are comfortable.While not a big fan of 5:11 other than their shirts, I detest their pants, but really like the Tru-Spec 24/7 pants, and nearly always wear one of those what many call the "shoot me first vest", although most days when I'm out and about, I get asked questions like: "Can you tell where the paint dept is?", or "where is the restroom?" With so many companies putting the employees in vests, in general they are nearly main stream.

Years ago I made a good percentage of my living do freelance Automotive photography, mostly autos like Monster Trucks, Pulling trucks, 4x4's, , and many a time found my self climbing over, around, and onto said subjects.Jeans were pretty binding, and it was about the time bugle boys, & dockers came out, and hey back then only photographers wore the vest (I have an old Domeke hanging in the closet thats right at 25 years old) But they were a lot more comfortable, but the quality wasn't there.

So thats the way I dress, I'm to old to look tactfully cool, and not fat enough to be a mall ninja, I'm just being comfortable

Celebs with guns, sends a poor message, of safe gun handling, booger hooks on bang switches throughout, unsafe direction, sad they couldn't get it right, they are trying to look all cool, and come out clueless

Of course it figures, my car suddenly quit starting last Friday, and my mechanic friend could only make it over last night, but he braved the lightening and rain, and found the starter had just given up, which is a bit strange, as they usually give some sign before they die. Hopefully he can install the new one this weekend.

While a bit pricey, it's a good training aid for those serious about their training, and will make a exceptional aid for Instructors. It gives instant feedback, if you are indeed doing your "dry fire" correctly.

Sunday, October 03, 2010

It picks up where the NRA PPOTH course ends, so it's "Not an NRA Approved course"

What I found first when I laid it out on paper, ie: course of fire, that while it sounded good, that certain drills could not be done safely if they were others on the range. 2nd I did a "walk through" & changed it a bit more. Then I had by partner go through it with me, taking turns shooting each drill, and each watching to see if it could be done safely.

The next step is we are inviting 20 Instructors to attend the course, (We are doing the class twice with 10 students each day) & their payment will be impute on which drills work, how they can be made better. Some of the drills are in my humble opinion a bit edgy, and those will be done on a one to one basis, in the rest no more than 5 students at a time with 2 RO's.

Training is about learning how to do something, giving the "Puppy" (mid-brain) the hands on, to learn the skill.If the puppy is more concerned about his own survival, than learning, the training is a waste of time.

Funny all the places mentioned were "Gun Free" zones by law, and I for one am not happy about wire taps. About the only Semi Auto "Battlefield" rifle is the Barrett 50, and at 8 grand, troubled teens, and unhappy spouses are not buying them

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About Me

Hi I am John D Farquhar, I have been involved with shooting, training and tactics a long time. It has become a passion not only to teach others how to preserve life, but remind them of their rights as Americans. I have added several of the Gun Rights Groups to my blog list, if you are interested in learning more.
http://www.firearmsfuture.com/
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